“It’s okay Annana it’s not that bad, the
tostadas will be a nice compliment.”

“¿Qué dijiste Anna? (What did you say, Anna?)” Asked Juan Pelos.

“Ahhh who wants a
tostada?” Uncle Jake asked, and everyone raised
their hands.

Regardless, no one left the table
feeling hungry. Uncle Jake, Feo, and Juan Pelos
went outside for a smoke. Izaak and I cleared the
table.

“Thanks for helping me.”

“Annana, I would never leave you to clean
all this mess up on your own.”

“This is one of the reasons I like you the
best Izaak!”

“Well, it’s all about spending as much time
together as we can, no?”

“You got it,” I answered and threw the dish
towel at him.

By the time Uncle Jake and his guests came
back inside Izaak, and I were sitting at the table and looking at Uncle Jake’s
photo albums.

“You know what we should do tonight?” asked
Izaak.

“What?”

“We should go to this disco club in Dallas
that I go to sometimes. I think you would like it, they play all kinds of different
music tonight is norteña night, and there’s a popular band playing. What do you
say, Annana, you wanna dress up, let your hair down and go dance the night
away?”

Feo and Juan Pelos almost jumped through
the roof with excitement.

“I think you would love it!” said Juan Pelos
in a heavy Spanish accent.

I looked at Uncle Jake, and he said, “Knock
yourselves out. I’m too old for that. I’m staying home.”

“Okay,” I said, and let my hair down, put
on lip gloss, pulled together an outfit as best I could with what I had, and
off we went to the club.

The club was jam-packed with impeccably
dressed gorgeous, confident Mexican people. The atmosphere reminded me of El
Guero’s parties. Again, I felt completely out of place and self-conscious, but the
more vampiros I drank it helped enhanced
my vocabulary, or so I thought, and I cared less about what I looked like in
the clothing I was wearing.

I met many of Izaak’s friends and had deep
conversations with him.

“So, what do you think?” Asked Izaak.

“This is awesome! I wanna live here.”

“I knew you would. I can help you find
work.”

“It’s very tempting, but it’s a bad idea.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I would unintentionally become Uncle
Jake’s maid and end up resenting both of you for that. It would probably ruin
our relationship.”

“True.”

“You know, this trip has been very hard for
me, and many times I thought that it was a huge mistake, but I have learned so
much. Going back to the colony has helped me mature and accept many things. I
think I have found my purpose.”

“Oh yeah? And what is that?”

“Well, for me to be okay, I need to stay
part of my family in some way or another, and I need for the Bueckert girls not
to hate me, I can’t let them go either I love them too much. It may take my lifetime
to prove to them that we can still be some part of each other’s lives maybe
even only in our thoughts for now in spite of us disagreeing about school and
many other things. I think by me finishing my high school will be one way I can
be a sliver of hope in the far future for them and many people from the colony
who can’t read and write. I am going to stop trying to convince them and show
them by doing it. I know that the hardest part for me will be keeping some kind
of relationship with them while I do it.”

“I am proud of you. Most people who leave
the colony become hateful, bitter, and cut all ties they have with the life
they left behind. I see it here in Texas all the time; people end up putting
all their energy into proving that they are not part of that. I have done it
for years, it’s exhausting, and we just end up making fools of ourselves. No
matter what we do, we can’t change who our parents are or where we came from. Good
for you.”

“Thank you. I know that it might not even
work, but I am going to do it anyway. I will just have to do what mom has
always said, that if you want to get anywhere , you have to adjust my
attitude accordingly. Ay caramba,
Izaak, I said accordingly!”

“You sure did.”

Juan Pelos didn’t like how serious my
conversation with Izaak was getting and asked me to dance. As always, I put up
a big fight resisting, but in the end, gave in.

“Ahhh what the heck! I’ll go to the
dancefloor with you, but I can guarantee you that I will be stepping on your
tows. Are you okay with that?”

Juan Pelos did a really good job of not letting
the fact that I was imposable to lead on the dance floor ruin hisoptimism. There was just no way I could even pretend to put
out moves like the rest of the people in the club, so I thought I would talk to
him to make it go by faster for his sake.

“So Izaak tells me that you guys are from Esfuerzos?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You know, I think you grew up in the best
little Ranchito in Mexico. That mountain with the cave is my favorite!”

“I couldn’t agree with you more.”

“You know that my friends and I used to run
and hide when anyone from Esfuerzos past
through our colony.”

“Yes, how could I forget?”

“That was very rude.”

“It did hurt a lot, but this makes it
better.”

“I am so sorry.”

“That’s okay I understand why you did it. I’ll
never hide from you when you go through my town to visit your favorite place.”

“I know you wouldn’t. Thank you for that.When we drive through any Mexican town, people do nothing but
smile and wave at us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Sooo how long have you known my brothers
for?”

“About four years or so, how are they
doing?”

“Good, really good actually. They are so
easy going. I sure didn’t expect that I would get along with them as well as I
did.”

“I know what you mean. Your brothers are awesome.”

“I know, I am going to miss them even more
now that I spent so much time with them. You know that they lived in Cuernavaca, Morelos and worked as extras
on a movie set?”

“What? No, I didn’t. That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, I know. I’m totally jealous.”

“Me too. Oh shit! Are they still going to
talk to me now that they are actors?”

“Oh yes, they are all relaxed about it. I
was the one that freaked out with excitement especially about the fact that they
got to work with Joaquim de Almeida and Tom Berenger.”

“Wow good for them.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Come, I’ll buy you a drink,” suggested
Juan Pelos when the song ended.

“What would you like?”

“I’ll have another vampiro.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to try
something different?”

“No, not really, vampiros are my favorite.”

“Okay,” He replied. We went back to our
table and met some more of Izaak’s friends.

I sat down and thought how nice I felt that
I had a chance to apologize to at least one person for being so ignorant and rude
to him just because he wasn't Dietsch.
I got all worked up thinking to myself, “From now on I will decide for myself
who I will be friends with how I will treat people.” And I felt unbearable
guilt again about how I had judged George before I even knew him.

“You look sad what's wrong?” asked Izaak.

“Oh nothing, I just realized some important
changes I have to work on.”

“Okay, whenever you want to go just let me
know, okay.”

“Okay, I will. This is great, thanks for
showing me what your life is like.”

“Your welcome.”

“Hey, does El Guero ever come here?”

“No, or at least I have never ran into him
here.”

“Okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just wondered.”

“Do you plan on staying in touch with him?”

“No, you know, as much as I would like too,
I know that I am better off listening to my mother about this one. I am so glad
that I got to experience what I did and that I met him before I knew what he
does. I think I am better of leaving things as they are, and besides, I think I
might have lost his phone number.”

“You are making a smart decision prima! Cheers to that.”

I chugged back my vampiro and told Izaak with more confidence than ever before, “I
have made many stupid decisions, for many different reasons and I am sick of
it. From here on out I am deciding for myself, who I talk to, who I am friends
with, whether they have tattoos, wear plaid shirts or ostrich boot. The
decision will be mine, and I'm not hiding and pretending anymore. And you know
what else?”

“What?” Izaak asked with a scared look on
his face.

“I’m gonna go shopping! I’m going to dress how
I want to dress. Who care about what people think!”

“You go, prima!” Izaak replied.

“And I’m gonna wear my purple dress! But
only when I'm sleeping. And you know what else?”

“No, tell me.”

“This is my last drink.”

“Okay, how about I’ll get you a water?”

“Thank you!”

When I sobered up, I apologized to Izaak
for speaking so aggressively.

“Prima!
If you are going to practice what you preach never apologize for preaching it!”